Pitchfork Music Festival, Day One

July 13th, 2007 -- Though Chicago is home to weekly outdoor music festivals all summer long, few can dispute the superior quality of Pitchfork’s annual fest. As far as the ones in the profit-making business category go, its value is unparalleled: $50 for a three-day pass featuring 39 artists. Add buzzy, Pitchfork-y acts such as Girl Talk, Fujiyu & Miyagi and Battles, to “name” acts like Sonic Youth, Yoko Ono and De La Soul, and it’s no surprise tickets sold out quickly.
  The lineup offered a lot of diversity, acts ranging from metal to hip-hop, unsigned to established artists. While the booking came close to flawless, there were some sound issues, and a couple missteps on stage placements. Girl Talk, for example, should have been on one of the headlining stages, as opposed to the Balance stage, which was located off the main field, and couldn’t house as many people. It’s minor quibbling for a fest that gets better each year, with a couple of the performances alone more than worth the price of admission.



Friday, DAY ONE

In collaboration with All Tomorrow’s Parties, Friday featured Sonic Youth, GZA and Slint each performing a classic album from its respective repertoires.
  First up was Slint with 1991’s Spiderland. The album showcased what would become hallmarks for the post-rock indie world. It’s a study of jarring contrasts, the juxtaposition of driving heaviness against soft murmured words. Loud-soft-louder, swelling and receding, a genre of bands can count Slint as an influence. This night the group stayed true to the album, an intricate tapestry of sound. While it is clear the vast influence the group has amassed, the songs begin to bleed into one another, indistinguishable, despite the varying dynamics. The penultimate moment and song came during “Good Morning, Captain,” a clear example and summation of why Slint is so influential.
  Wu-Tan Clan co-founder/conspirator GZA performed 1995’s Liquid Swords, a sinister and classic album housing GZA’s intelligent and chilled out flow atop smooth production and movie clips. Devoid of the eerie Kung-Fu film clips and joined by a few hype men, the creepy gave way to a party atmosphere, with numerous Wu-Tang shout-outs and the typical, “Put your hands in the air” call-and-responses. Sad, really, as Liquid Swords live could’ve been one of the fest’s highlights. Instead it felt more like kids on a playground, messing around, not caring about the task at hand.
  By far one of the best moments of Pitchfork came when Sonic Youth took the stage to play 1988’s Daydream Nation. The double album was an exploration of dissonance and melody; inventive guitar tonality and tuning; discord and controlled chaos. While deep in the field of Union Park, the sound was marred (the organizers brought in new sound equipment in time for Saturday’s festivities), up close “Teenage Riot” began with the pretty guitar sprawl, growing grand as Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo’s guitar melodies zig-zagged and flirted around each other. “Silver Rocket” was an assault of flying drumsticks, and full-throttle energy, Moore kicked around the stage untethered. Midsong, it was a storm of feedback and squalls of guitar, with Moore working against the amp as if there was a way to tame the frenetic songs to come. No dice, as song upon song unfolded with just as much ferocity. Kim Gordon’s “Kissability” was an urgent and unrelenting come-on, a prelude to the intense Trilogy that closes the album and its set. The group returned for a three-song encore, as if everything preceding it wasn’t enough to savor. Day One down, and I’m wondering if anything else at Pitchfork can top the final performance of the night.

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